rainbow@ihuxe.UUCP (Rob Buchner) (09/30/83)
1) A diety has to be considered intelligent and not foolish. Dont you think
the diety's first act will be a teleport(inate ability, not magical) if he's
in the least bit of danger(not to mention the possible use of psionics)?
Then return with the proper defenses and retainers to handle the situation.
This alone foils the iron flask, paladin with holy sword, and mirrors of
opposition solutions even without my other arguments.
2) There is no correlation between MU level required to make an item and magic
resistance. Staves and wands are excellent examples which function as 8th and
6th levels respectively. Even Demigod's special magical abilities are only
considered 15th level by default. So I would place miscellaneous magic items
at 11th level. This I feel is very reasonable otherwise magic resistance
should be recalculated in a new scale to allow it to go past 100%.
3) A wish by definition is noy able to cancel the decrees of god-like beings.
So on the plane in question, I would not allow any wishes which directly
effect Orcus(ie miss saving throw next time)(by the way, magic resistance
should apply in any case). However wishes indirectly effecting him(cumulative
potions) should work normally.
4) A L1 MU with a talisman of the sphere and a 18 intelligence only has a 39%
chance of controlling a sphere of annihilation. Movement is onle 8 feet per
round(1 minute) and you must be within 10 feet of the sphere at all times.
Control must be checked for in every round. Unfortunately a surprise round
is not like a normal round in that it only lasts 1 segment(6 seconds). The
two types of rounds are very similar in what in what you can do and accomplish
except in one regard: real time. This effects movement, spell casting, etc
which are limited to a 6 second head start on the next round. Combat remains
identical. Considering everything, this makes the odds of hitting Orcus with
the sphere quite small. Although your overall chances arent bad, they arent
exactly good either. It depends how close the sphere is to Orcus and how
long it takes him to react after his surprise round.
5) I would not allow a protection from demon scroll to work on the demon's
home plane. Logically it should have no effect. Something like fire spells
on the elemental plane of water, etc. Otherwise I'll have a field day sending
opponents with protection from human scrolls against player characters.
6) A monk does not gain any bonuses for strength ability, magical or otherwise.
7) Orcus has 120 hit points.
8) Of all the examples and descriptions given of the iron flask, no where
does it come close to inferring the ability to enslave dieties. It only
mentions basically normal(if you can call them that) creatures from other
planes not of the stature of gods. So I would not allow such a liberal
interpretation by a player.
9) During a round, If you have 6 attacks for instance and win initiative,
you only get 4 swings(actually it might only be three anyway) before your
opponent gets to act. In a surprise round you get all your swings without
any return action.
10) "are potions cumulative?" is a question probably answered in the DM's
guide under potion miscibility. 1 wish would first be required to remove the
possible side effects of the two potions mixed together( another wish for the
third, etc). Then I would think duration is effected, not strength(perhaps
a 50% increase though). Without any specifics given, I would look at other
potions paying particular attention to what a dose does as compared to a
whole potion.
11) As a DM I would handle a wish(generally I'm very liberal regarding the
actual wording, however I'm very strict if a feel more than one effect is
asked for) for a magic item in the following way: the opportunity to get this
item will present itself to the player in the future. The length of time
and difficulty in acquiring this is dependent on the item itself. The means
at my disposal are endless(placing item among future treasure, treasure map,
etc). Potions included. Never would I drop an item onto the characters lap.
To me it seems like it would destroy the cosmic balance of the universe.
(by the way, theres no way 5 wishes can be made in 6 seconds in any case.
However I have allowed one per segment if they were short.)
Disclaimer: These opinions should in no way be considered right or wrong.
Just another viewpoint.